nadj

Au premier semestre j'ai suivi un cours de folklore irlandais, et la prof nous a raconté le début d'un conte pour nous montrer le genre de choses qu'on racontait au coin du feu... J'ai voulu savoir la fin, alors elle m'a envoyé le conte, qu'elle a traduit elle-même de l'Irlandais. Je suis en train de travailler à la version française, mais c'est un peu long à faire, alors en attendant je vous livre la version anglaise. Voici donc l'histoire de Bull Bhalbhae (prononcez "boul Valva" !). Vous vous rendrez vite compte que tout va par trois dans les contes irlandais...

There was a king long ago and he had three daughters. They had grown into fine young women when one day the king and the queen left the house and he never thought to lock his room. He had a mirror and he had left it on the window in his room and none of his daughters had ever seen it. It worried him greatly all that day he was away that they might see the mirror. It was a magic mirror and anyone who looked into it would get what he wanted . That was what was bothering the king; that his daughters might look into it and that they would not ask for something that would be good for them.

Well the girls were busy about the kitchen, doing their work and after a while they noticed that the door was unlocked. The oldest daughter went in and she saw the mirror on the window and she looked into it and said, “I want to marry the King of the Western World.”  Then she went back to her work.

Then the second daughter went in and she saw the mirror. She looked into it. She had never seen it before. She said “I want to marry the King of the Eastern World.” Then she went out.

The third daughter went in and she spotted the mirror and she looked into it as the others had done and she said, “I want to marry Bull Bhalbhae.”

Well that was alright until the king came home and the first question he asked when he came in was if anyone had been in the room. The oldest daughter said that she had been in there.

Did you see the mirror? he asked.

I did, she said.

Did you look into it?

I did, she answered.

What did you say then ?

I said that I wanted to be married to the King of the Western World.

Oh well, that’s a good thing, said the king.

Then he asked the second daughter had she been in and she said she had.

Did you look into the mirror ? he asked.

I did, she said.

And what did you say then? said he.

I said that I wanted to marry the King of the Eastern World.

Oh well, that’s a good thing, said the king.

He asked the third daughter had she been there. She said she had.

Did you look into the mirror? he said.

I did, she said.

And what did you say then? he said.

I said that I would like to marry Bull Ballbhae.

Oh I pity you, he said; but he was very happy with the other two.

  Nothing happened for a while after that.  Then one day the prince of the Western world came looking for his wife and they were married and there was food and drink for both rich and poor for ten days and ten nights.  They left then for the Western world. 

Some days after that the prince of the Eastern world came looking for his wife and there was a great welcome for him. They were married and there was food and drink for rich and poor for ten nights. Then they left for the Eastern world.

Some days after that a black bull came one morning, stamping and bellowing and he told them to send his wife out to him. No one stirred. He began stamping and bellowing again and told them to send his wife out to him or he would knock the castle down. They became scared and sent guards out to him to clear him away from the castle. They couldn’t move him. He took no notice of anyone. Then the king became scared. They had a kitchen girl and the king had her dressed up in the clothes of a noblewoman and they sent her out to him. The bull gently lifted her up on his horns and put her sitting comfortably on his back and went off with her. Later on in the afternoon he stopped for a moment, faced the sun and asked her;

“What time of day is it now?” She said she thought it was time to prepare dinner for the king.

“I think”, says he, “that I don’t have the right woman yet.”

He went back then and came to the castle again bellowing angrily and telling them to send his wife out to him. They went and got a chambermaid this time and dressed her up in the clothes of a noblewoman and sent her out to him.  He gently lifted her up on his horns again and put her sitting comfortably on his back and went off again until it was late in the afternoon. Then he stopped, faced the sun and asked her;

“What time of day is it now?” She said she thought it was time to set the dinner table for the king.

“I see”, he said to himself, “It seems I haven’t got the right woman yet.” He went back to the castle again and let the girl down gently. Then he warned them solemnly that they were to send his wife out to him or he would tear the castle down stone by stone.

The king was terrified and sent her out to him. He gently lifted her up on his two horns and put her sitting on his back and he went off with her until it was afternoon again. He stood, faced the sun and asked her,

“What time of day is it now?” She said that she thought that it was time for her mother and father and herself to sit down to dinner.

"It seems I have the right woman at last” he said to himself and journeyed onwards.

They kept going until they came to a cave in the side of a hill. And there was a hole in the cave and they went right down into the hole in. There was a beautiful country down there.

He asked her which she would prefer, that he be a bull at night and a man during the day or that he be a bull during the day and a man at night. He told her that it had to be one or the other. She said she would prefer him to be a bull during the day and a man at night, so that’s how it was from then on. During the day he was a bull and during the night he was a man. He had a fabulous palace and she never knew him other than as a bull during the day and a man at night.

After a year she wanted to return home because she was expecting a child. She wanted to give birth at home with her mother and father rather than where she was where she had no relations. He told her that he would take her home if she wanted to go but that there was nothing at home that she could get nor anything that anyone could do for her that he could not get for her or do for her here. But she said that she would prefer to go home. So he set off with her and brought her home and warned her parents to take good care until he came again to fetch her.

Shortly after that she gave birth to a son. She was in a bedroom on her own with women to take care of her. But a few nights after the birth a wild hag came to the top of the castle and she put her hand down the chimney and all the women around her had fallen asleep and she searched around among them for the infant and she found him and she took him up the chimney with her. Off she went with the baby and she threw him in the river.

When the women awoke there was no sign of the child. They were scared that they would be killed because the child was missing and the king and queen were scared too. They were terrified of the bull.

Well a month or so later when he thought his wife would have recovered, the bull came again to him and ordered them to send out his wife. Very reluctantly, and fearfully, they sent her out to him. He gently lifted her up on his horns and put her comfortably on his back and off they went.

Yes, he said to his wife later on in the day. “You see it would have been better to have stayed with me. I told you that you could get nothing, or have nothing done at home for that I could have given you or done for you.” He said no more than that. He didn’t blame her about the child.

Well, when she was expecting another child some time after that, she wanted to come home again and he said he would take her home if she wanted to go but that it would be better for her to stay with him, that there was nothing to be got at home that he couldn’t give her himself. “Things didn’t go well for you the last time you went home.” But she wouldn’t be satisfied. She said that she wanted to go home.

Well, he took her up on his back again and journeyed to her home and to her father and mother and he warned them to take good care of her until he came again to fetch her.

Well, they were very careful to take the best of care this time and when she went into labour there was a large group of women ready to help. Mindful of what had happened the previous time they were all doing their very best this time. A son was born to her again and she was overjoyed. But, two nights or so afterwards, all the women helpers around her fell asleep. The hag came to the top of the castle again and she put her hand down through the chimney and she got the child from the arms of one of the women and took him up with her and threw him in the river.

No one noticed her coming and no one noticed her going with the child. No one knew who had taken him or where she had gone. When the women tending her awoke at last, the child was nowhere to be seen. They all began to blame one another for they were scared of the child’s mother, that she might kill them. Everyone was extremely worried. They were all terrified that the bull would be angry with his wife.

Well, he came to fetch her when he thought she would have recovered and he ordered them to send his wife out to him. They were scared but he said nothing to them. She was sent out. He lifted her gently on his horns and set her comfortably on his back and headed off.

Then he said “You see now,” he said, “You would have been better to stay with me as I told you. Look now the way things turned out. I told you that I could have taken care of you as well as they would at home.” He said nothing more to her and didn’t blame her for anything else.

Well, they were getting along as they had been before when she became pregnant a third time. And she said to him that she would like to be at home for the birth. He asked her to stay with him, that he could take care of her as well as they could at home but he said “If you want to go home, I will bring you home.” She said she would prefer to go home. He raised her up on to his back and didn’t stop until he came to the  castle. He ordered them to take good care of her until he came to fetch her again.

Well, they did everything they possibly could to take care of her. When she went into labour, there was a large group of women at her side and she gave birth to a daughter this third time. They were all doing their best caring for her that night and the following morning but the hag came again. It seems she was putting a magic spell on the waiting women to put them all to sleep. Anyway, she put her hand down the chimney again and stole the child away.  No one saw her and no one noticed anything. But the young mother saw the child being whisked away and a stream of tears ran down her face when she saw the child leaving. She caught the stream of tears in the corner of a silken handkerchief and she fastened the handkerchief with a clasp. The hag left, and threw the child in the river.

Well, there’s no use saying too much about it but they were heartbroken and grief stricken about the loss of the child.

 When she had recovered, the bull came to fetch her. He came right up to the door and said nothing to anybody. But she got up and went out to him. Then he told her to stay at home, that he was not going to take her with him because she hadn’t stayed with him when he told her to.

He left her but she followed him. They had gone a good distance from the house when he stopped and waited until she had caught up to him. Then he told her to turn back, that there was no point in following him, that she would never see him again. She swore that she wouldn’t return and he continued onwards and she walked after him until nightfall. He waited again for her to catch up and told her again that she would be better off going home.

"It’s late for you now," he said, "and there’s a house down there. Go into it and ask them for lodgings for the night in the name of God and Mary. And if they won’t give them to you, ask in the name of Bull Bhalbhae and maybe then you’ll get lodgings."

She told him to wait for her in the morning. He promised her that he would. She left and went into the house. There was no one there but a woman and there were child’s toys around the house. She asked for lodgings in the name of God and Mary but the woman refused her. She said she never left anyone into her house.

"Well then maybe you’d give me lodgings for the sake of Bull Bhalbhae.”

“I will certainly,"said she, “And welcome, for his sake.”

She gave her a chair and told her sit down. It was a nice, warm house with a bright fire. The woman sat on the chair and the woman of the house made her supper. A young child was wandering around the house the whole time. The child seemed to be drawn to the visiting woman and kept coming over to her to the extent that the woman of the house noticed and remarked; “You’d think that he knew you all his life.”

"Leave him,” said the young woman, “He’s not doing any harm.”

She was given a grand, comfortable bed that night and though she was up early the following morning the woman of the house was up before her and had her breakfast ready. When she was leaving, she thanked the woman.

"Here," said the woman of the house; “Here’s a scissors for you. And make sure to mind it because some day you may well need it.”

She left then, and went to where she had left her husband the previous night. He came along shortly afterwards and told her to go back home now, that there was no point in her following him any more. She said that she would never go back, that she would always follow him.

He left her, and went far farther this day then the previous day. She followed him all the way. He would wait for and when she came as far as him he would tell her to go home. Again and again that happened until night fell. Then he stood and waited for her to come as far as him. “No matter how far you come with me you’ll have to go back the same distance and it would be best for you to go back now. But it’s getting late and there’s a house down there. Why don’t you go and spend the night there. They may or may not let you in but ask them in the name of God and Mary to give you lodgings and if they refuse, ask in the name of Bull Bhalbhae."

She made him promise to wait for him in the morning and he agreed. She left him and went to the house. It was a nice, warm house with a big fire. There was no one there but the woman of the house, and a child, a little younger than the child in the house the previous night. She asked for the lodgings in the name of God and Mary but the woman refused her. She said she never left anyone into her house.

“Well then maybe you’d give me lodgings for the sake of Bull Bhalbhae.”

“I will certainly,” said she, “And welcome, for his sake.”

She gave her a chair and told her sit down. It was a nice, warm house with a bright fire. The woman sat on the chair and the woman of the house made her supper. A young child somewhat younger than the child the previous night was wandering around the house the whole time. The child seemed to be very fond of Bull Bhalbhae’s wife and played around her constantly to the extent that the woman of the house noticed and remarked; “You’d think that he knew you all his life.”

"Leave him,” said the young woman, “He’s not doing any harm.”

She was given a grand, comfortable bed that night and though she was up early the following morning the woman of the house was up before her and had her breakfast ready. When she was leaving, she thanked the woman.

“Wait,” she said and went and came back with a comb for her. “Make sure to mind this,” she said, “For some day you may well  need it.” She thanked her for the comb and left.

She went off then, and went to where she had left her husband the previous night. He came along shortly afterwards and told her to go back home now, that there was no point in her following him any more. She said that she would never go back, that she would always follow him.

He left her, and went far farther this day then the previous day. She followed him all the way. He would wait for her and when she came as far as him he would tell her to go home. Again and again that happened until night fell. Then he stood and waited for her to come as far as him. “No matter how far you come with me you’ll have to go back the same distance and it would be best for you to go back now. But it’s getting late and there’s a house down there. Why don’t you go and spend the night there. They may or may not let you in but ask them in the name of God and Mary to give you lodgings and if they refuse, ask in the name of Bull Bhalbhae."

She made him promise to wait for him in the morning and he agreed. She left him and went to the house. It was a nice, warm house with a big fire. There was no one there but the woman of the house, and a child, a little younger than the child in the house the previous night. She asked for the lodgings in the name of God and Mary but the woman refused her. She said she never left anyone into her house. “Well then maybe you’d give me lodgings for the sake of Bull Bhalbhae.” “I will certainly,” said she, “And welcome, for his sake.”

 She gave her a chair and told her sit down. It was a nice, warm house with a bright fire. The woman sat on the chair and the woman of the house made her supper. This little child was wandering around the house the whole time. The child seemed to be drawn to the visiting woman to the extent that the woman of the house noticed and remarked; “You’d think that he knew you all his life.” “Leave him,” said the young woman, “He’s not doing any harm.”

She gave her supper and a fine bed just as the previous nights. And though she got up early the next morning the woman of the house was up before her and had breakfast ready for her.  When she had eaten she was about to leave. “Wait a minute” said the woman of the house.  She gave her a length of thread.  “Take that” she said “and mind it well because you might need it someday.”  The young woman thanked her.

She took her leave and went to the place where she had parted from Bull Bhalbhae the previous day.  But he wasn’t there and he didn’t come and she had not got any undertaking from him the previous night that he would meet her that morning.  She was afraid then that she would never see him again.  After a long time he did come and told her to go home that they would not see one another again.   She said she would not go that she would never go home until the day she died.  Then he left her again flying into the air in the form of a black crow.  He stayed near her always waiting for her to catch up with him.  When evening fell he stayed with her and told her that she would not see him again and told her to go home.

He flew off again in the form of a crow and she saw him fly into a valley among hills and he went into a hole there. She continued to walk towards it and went herself into the hole.  It was a big deep cave.  She waited there till dawn of the next day to see if he would come to her but he didn’t.  She remained there weaving a ropes out of straw and grasses and she stayed there for seven weeks.  By the end of that time she had made such a long rope  that when she threw it down into the cave it reached to the very bottom of it.  She tied one end to a stone and climbed down to the floor of the cave.

There was a fine world below with a fine palace and forests and houses. She went into one of the houses and asked for lodgings.  She was welcomed and given food and drink.  There was a unkempt young girl, yellow faced, miserable looking with dark messy hair and clothes in dirty tatters.  When this ragged creature left the house the young woman enquired who she was.

She was told that this girl was the daughter of a hag who lived nearby.  The visiting woman went to bed then and fell asleep.

The following day she was given something to eat and told that she was welcome to stay.  The young ragged girl came again and stayed until night.  She was sitting by the fire near the visiting woman.  As night approached she got up to leave and as she did so she brushed past the visiting woman.  The woman took out the comb that she had in her pocket and touched the girl’s head with it.  No sooner had she done that when the girls hair tuned into a beautiful blonde mane and the girl was delighted with herself. Off she went home to her mother to show off her fine fair tresses.  Her mother quizzed her as to how she had acquired such a head of hair.  She told her mother about the strange woman visiting in the house nearby. 

“When I was passing by her in the kitchen she put her hand in her pocket and took out a comb and she touched the comb to my head she had no sooner done that when I had this fine head of hair,” she said.

“Did you ask her if she would sell the comb?”

“I didn’t” said the girl.

“Go back out again and ask her if she would sell the comb.”

She went back out and told her that her mother had sent her to know if she would sell the comb.

“Tell her I will sell it.”

Off went the girl with that news and told her mother that the comb was for sale.

“Did you ask her what she wants for it?” said the mother.

“I didn’t,” said the girl.

“Go back again and ask her what she wants for it and tell her to come to me.”

The girl went off again and said that her mother wanted to know what she wanted in exchange for the comb.

“Tell her that all I want is to spend the night with my husband.”

The girl returned with this news and brought the woman back but the visiting woman got no welcome from the hag nor no food to eat but was told to go upstairs quickly and to go into bed but that it would do her very little good, that she would have very little out of it.

The woman went upstairs, herself and her husband – Bull Bhalbhae. The hag went up after them with a bowl of liquid and a boy along with her and he had a lighted candle. She told the woman to get into the bed immediately. The woman got into the bed and stretched out and her husband lay alongside her on the outside of the bed. When he was lying down the hag gave him the liquid. He took it and drank it down. No sooner had he done that than he fell into a deep sleep. The hag and the young boy disappeared down the stairs. The woman lay beside him on the inside him on the inside of the bed and began talking to him and telling him her story, telling him what had happened to her since they had last met. But it was no use, he didn’t hear a word she said. She was shaking him and poking him and trying to wake him up to no avail. He stayed like that until the hag came the following morning. She told the woman to get up out of bed, that she had profited little from the night. He didn’t even know that she had been beside him because of the magic spell that had been put on him.

The woman got up and went out. She got nothing to eat nor nothing to drink and she went back to the house in which she had been the previous day. She hadn’t been there long when the hag’s daughter came again. The young girl was very fond of the woman since getting her fine head of hair. But she had no dress nor coat but dirty rags. They spent the day together and when she was going home that evening she brushed past the visiting woman who put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a scissors. She cut a snip from the girl’s rags. No sooner had she done that when the girl’s clothes were transformed into the finest silk dress. The girl was very pleased with herself and went to her mother full of delight. Her mother quizzed her as to where she had got the fine dress. She told her that the woman who had been there the previous night had snipped a piece of her clothes with the scissors as she had been going by.

[“Did you ask her if she would sell the scissors…

To sleep with her husband for the night… 

The hag, the drink, the boy with the lighted candle… 

If you stuck him with a bayonet he wouldn’t have felt it …

 The following day the hag’s daughter came to the house again…]

That day the woman’s husband (Bull Bhalbhae) was out hunting and shooting and the boy was out with him. It so happened that the boy had been sleeping on the other side of the partition to where Bull Bhalbhae and his wife had spent the night. He had heard the women talking on the previous two nights telling him of her troubles and what had happened since he left her. The boy asked Bull Bhalbhae had he ever been married.

“No.” he said, “Why do you ask.”

“Well” said the boy, “a woman has spent the last two nights with you and I have been listening to her talking to you. If what she says is true she is to be pitied because she has gone through a terrible lot of suffering.”

Bull Bhalbhae stopped and thought and said that he remembered now that he had been married.

“Well that was your wife then, with you for the last two nights, and she is to be pitied” said the boy.

“I wonder” said the gentleman, Bull Bhalbhae “What can be done. Could we come up with a plan?”

“If you could avoid taking the drink, you’d be alright” said the boy.

“And how could I do that?” said the nobleman.

“That would be no problem” said the boy. “I’ll be holding the light for the hag and when you lie down on the bed she will give you the drink. I’ll be behind her. As soon as I see the drink in your hand I’ll throw myself down and I’ll quench the light and will pretend to be sick. Be sure to throw the drink away.”

So they agreed on that.

When the young girl came to the house the next day the visiting woman had a length of thread which she was winding into balls of yarn. She had only one skein of thread yet she managed to wind four big balls of yarn and yet the skein of thread never got any smaller.

[Girl went home told her mother…

“Ask her what she wants for it…”

“A night with my husband…”]

The hag never saw him taking the drink… The boy threw a fit on the ground, but the hag was not concerned about him. What bothered her was that she hadn’t seen the man swallow the liquid. The boy recovered but the hag was not one bit happy. She went downstairs and put the thongs into the fire and reddened it. Back upstairs with her with the boy lighting her way. She pulled the bedclothes up from his legs and pressed the red hot iron against the soles of his feet. But if she did, he didn’t stir, he suffered it in silence. But she still wasn’t satisfied. She pulled the clothes back from his head and pressed the red hot iron across his eyelids and the bridge of his nose and she burned the skin off them. But he suffered on, he didn’t stir.

Well she was satisfied then that he had taken the liquid and went downstairs and went to sleep. Now, the woman had the whole night to tell her husband her story. She told him from the very beginning, from the first day that she saw him till the day he left her all the troubles she had gone through. He believed her. He thought about everything she said and knew that she was telling the truth. He told her to stay about the place to see if he could come up with any plan to kill the hag. He said that they had no chance until she was dead.

She waited around while he sought the advice of a wise old man. He asked him how could the hag be killed…

“Well that’s a difficult thing to do.” said the wise old man. “When you go back be very friendly to her. Pretend that you are very fond of her. Stay in her company all the time and crack jokes and laugh with her. Catch a hold of her. Sit her on your knee and flirt with her. She’ll ask you how it is that you’re so fond of her when you were not so before. Tell her that you were always mad about her but that you were busy elsewhere, that you won’t be so busy from now on, that now you want to be with her all the time. She’ll soften towards her and when you sense that you have won her over ask her where her soul is. She’ll tell you that it’s in the oak tree at the gable end of the palace. Say no more, leave it at that. Then go out and start working in the area around the tree. Take workmen with you. Pay them – and put them to work. She’ll come to you then and ask you what you’re up to. Tell her that you are protecting her for fear any harm would befall her. She’ll tell you then,” he said, “to give up the work, that that is not where her soul is at all, that it’s in the sally tree outside the parlour window. Then you go and start working on that area. Bring workmen and horses and start dragging boulders. Tell her that you’re making a wall around the tree, right up to the top of it, in order to protect it. Then she’ll tell you not to bother, that there’s no blade sharp enough to cut that tree but a rusty little hatchet that she keeps under her own bed. She will be completely trusting of you by then. She will have told you the truth when she says that. She has a sister in the Eastern World and she will go to visit her. When she has gone to the East she will be in no hurry to return. She will stay a week. you go and get the hatchet early one morning when she will still be asleep. When you strike the tree the tree will let out a roar so great that she will hear it in the Eastern World in bed. She will lose her reason and will be without sense, without reason and without power. She won’t put on a dress or a petticoat and she won’t fasten her jacket or shirt and she will be bare breasted like a mad woman. Be ready for her. As soon as she sees you she will have a stick in her hand and will be about to throw it down on you. Tell her not to kill herself, to wait until you catch her."

[He thanked the wise man…

“I’m worried about you.” he said one day…

Brown mole under her arm pit… and he left her dead in the sea.]

He went back to the castle and was reunited with his wife. After a time a woman came to them with a young boy. She introduced herself. She was a sister of Bull Bhalbhae’s and she was the woman who had given his wife lodgings on that first night. She told them of how she had saved the child from the hag who had wanted to kill him. When the hag had thrown the child in the river she had snatched him out of it and had taken him with her and had reared him since and was now bringing him back safe and well. Then a second woman came with a second child…

Then a third woman came with a young girl and she had only one eye and she told the mother of how the hag had abducted her.

“And you saw your child leaving and tears streamed down you face and you caught the tears in the corner of a silk handkerchief and if you still have it get it now and rub it to the place where her eye should be and she will be perfect again."

She remembered where she had left it and went and got it. It was sewn tightly in the corner. She opened it and found the tears inside. She rubbed it to the place where the eye should be and now the new eye was as good as the old. They sat there happily together and they lived pleasurably and comfortably for the rest of their lives.

*****

That’s my story. If there’s a lie in it, so be it. It wasn’t I made it up. Donal Searcaigh O Connell was the man I heard it from in the house of Diarmuid O’Shea in Ceannúig A’Phriaire and it was very late and dark and black when I left the house and I came on a river on my way home and fell into it and was drenched to the skin. I came home without seeing a ghost or a fairy…Donal Searcaigh was a poor man with no material wealth, just a tiny strip of ground. He would spend nights in neighbouring houses telling stories and tales. The whole townland would come to hear him if they heard he was there. I believe he was almost eighty years of age when I heard this story from him and I heard this story only once. Its forty seven or forty-eight years since I heard him tell it. Donal had no kind of education, not in this wild west of a place.

translation from the Irish: Màire Ni Ghrada

most paintings : Trevor Stubley